


i wanna throw my all into your world

by ah_choo (klarkson)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: (also i'll add more characters as i'll go), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Hybrids, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 21:56:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8464483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klarkson/pseuds/ah_choo
Summary: Jihoon shouldn't be born and he knows it. Being a child of a chaebol heir and a random girl is shameful; being a child of a human and a hybrid makes it hell. But joining Hybrid Rights Movement? It's like a death sentence he's bringing on himself.
(Or that one hybrid au that isn't all sweet and fluffy.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello, it's me again, this time with a chaptered fic! i had this plot in my head (and a notebook) for some time now, and decided to finally start writing. if anything's too confusing or unclear, it will probably be revealed in some further chapters. enjoy!

Jihoon wakes up, panting. He feels cold sweat on his forehead and palms, and his shirt is sticking to his back uncomfortably. He frantically touches his head and his lower back, just above his butt, but nothing's there. He sighs with relief and stands up, throwing all of his damp sheets on the floor. He dries his palms on his pajama pants and goes to the kitchen for some water, ending up with emptying half of the bottle.

He hates having those nightmares. The plot and the details may differ, but one thing doesn't change: he's a cat. Small, white kitten. In this one, he was running away from the giant dogs chasing him for no reason. He tried to run faster and faster, but the distance between him and dogs was getting shorter every second; he woke up just before their canines could tear him apart.

He goes back to his room. On his way he passes through the living room, and stops for a while to look at Minghao sleeping on the couch. He always tells him that he should go to the hybrid's bedroom, where he had his own bed, but it always ends with Minghao sleeping curled on the couch.

He stays there for a little while too long, because Minghao senses him and opens his eyes slowly.

“What time is it?” he asks quietly, rubbing his hands on his face.

“It's the middle of the night, you can still sleep.”

“But why are you up, Jihoon-ssi?”

“I had a nightmare,” he confesses.

“Want me to sleep with you?”

Jihoon shakes his head at the proposition; he would accept it if his bed wasn't all damp with this sweat.

“Okay. Good night,” Minghao says and turns on his other side.

“Sleep well, Hao.”

Jihoon finally goes back to his room. He turns on the light and it blinds him for a moment, but it's better than accepting the fact that he can see in the darkness. The boy changes his pajamas and takes a fresh blanket from the wardrobe.

He lies down on his bed and tries to fall asleep, but to no avail. He feels tired, his eyes and head hurt, but the uneasiness brought by the nightmare can't leave him alone; he turns from one side to the other, but the sleep can't come. He feels relieved when it's finally 6 am and his alarm goes off and he goes to the bathroom to take a shower, which makes him feel a little bit more alive.

As always he eats his breakfast in the kitchen with the servants (?) and some hybrids around, not welcomed to the dining hall where the rest of his family eats – perks of being an illegitimate son, treated like he doesn't belong there. He's surprised that his father and grandfather didn't kick him out as soon as he turned 19, but let him still live in the mansion, treated just a little bit better than the hybrids they owned.

Trying not to think about how fucked up his life is, Jihoon goes to the bus stop and to the uni.

  


“Whoa, man, you look like shit.”

Jihoon looks at Soonyoung who sits beside him in a lecture hall.

“Thanks. That made my day. You're the best, Soonyoung,” Jihoon says flatly, opening his notebook on the last page, which he keeps for doodles if the lecture's boring, and that's most of the times.

“Aw, don't be mad Jihoonie. But I'm telling the truth.”

He sighs. He knows it well; not sleeping for a half of the night left ugly bags under his eyes, and he was unnaturally pale. He couldn't care less though.

“Whatever.”

“Okay.” Soonyoung takes his own notebook and pen. “Hey, but do you want to go to the library after the lecture with me?”

“I don't need any books. Why?”

Blonde boy makes a pouty face and lies his head on the desk.

“Pleeease, I need to take notes from that one book that can't be taken home so I need to do this in library, and it will be super boring.”

Jihoon actually planned to go straight home after the lecture and try to nap, but he couldn't just say no to his friend.

“Okay, whatever.”

Soonyoung's face starts glowing, like a mini-sun woke up inside him. His smile was contagous and Jihoon has to really bite back if he doesn't want to let him show that it worked.

“Thaaanks, you're the best Jihoonie.”

  


Jihoon ends up waiting for Soonyoung in front of the library. He occupies himself with his phone, not actually doing anything; he feels really uncomfortable standing there alone and looking at people. Maybe that's because he's quite introverted. Or because of his rising, the nanny and family who made him a bit scared of other people. Or... No, he doesn't want to think about this. About it being connected to _that_ part of his genes. No. He's just introverted, that's it. Yeah, that's it.

It has to be it.

Jihoon sighs, scrolling down his instagram feed for the n-th time. But his ears perks up when he hears fast loud stomping, like someone was running. He looks up and turns curiously to the right, just to see a tall boy, in fact, running. He has some papers in his hands, some flying out.

Jihoon notices that his shoes are unlaced, and just a mere second later the boy crashes into him.  
He doesn't do it literally, he supports himself with one hand on the wall and looms above Jihoon. He's close to him, face visibly flushed from running, some sweat on his hairline. He's panting loudly, and the smaller boy feels the cold wall behind him being painfully hard. The other boy is too close, too far in his personal bubble. And, the worst part of it – he's actually handsome.  
Tall boy gulps loudly as there are other loud steps approaching them.

"I'm sorry," he just says, pushes himself off Jihoon and starts running again, still with those unlaced shoes.

"I said stop!" There's a shout, and Jihoon sees one if the professors. He's obviously chasing the boy, but his age and big belly get in a way from running.

Jihoon blinks. He's never seen any professor chasing any the student. What did he do?  
He notices one of the papers the boy carried laying on the floor. It seems to be a leaflet. He picks it up curiously, and with only one glance he already knows.

The leaflet burns his fingertips as he reads.

"Hybrid Rights Movement invites YOU to the open presentation about why is it so important to protect hybrids. We want you to join us, and make hybrid lives more like human's, according to our motto: _every hybrid is human_."

He doesn't even look at the place and time. He needs to throw it out as soon as possible; not like his grandfather would see it here, at his university, but he doesn't feel safe.  
For him, to have something like this, it's worse than owning 'Mein Kampf' or some sort of satanic bible.

Jihoon's grandfather's company sponsors the Hybrid Manufacture, the biggest company to create and research hybrids. Damn, his grandfather is a hybrid collector! Every hybrid is like a pet to him, less than a servant. A slave.

Jihoon too.

He would be dead if he even considered going there.

"What do you have here?" Soonyoung asks and snatches the leaflet from his hands. "Ooh, I heard about that! Actually, i wanted to go there."

"Why?" Jihoon asks as they're start heading out of the building and to the bus stop. "Do you want to join them?"

Blonde boy shrugs.

"I don't know. They have a point, right? Hybrids are mainly human, so... Why aren't they treated like humans?"

_Because they want to own someone, and that's great option. Because it's like having_ _a slave, cute and adorable little slave,_ he thinks, but doesn't say it out loud. He just nods.

"So maybe we'll go there?" Soonyoung asks, giving him the paper back. "And see if they're actually talking something right or if they're just crazy, like those people who think that picking apples from trees kills them."

Jihoon bites his lip.

"Soonyoung, my family..." he says quietly. Soonyoung's eyes widen.

"Oh, shit, right, I forgot."

Soonyoung, as Jihoon's only friend, knew about his family. Jihoon didn’t tell it anyone else – he was a bastard son, no one was proud of him. And he wasn’t proud of his family too.

"But really, what you think about that?"

"Nothing," he says. _I can't thing anything. I can't._

They drop the topic and Jihoon folds the paper to put it into his pocket, as there's no trashbin anywhere close. It's nothing he would be interested in anyway.

  


"Why are you late again?" the nanny asks as soon as he steps into the house. His little brother is sitting by the table in the kitchen, drawing something with his favorite set of colored pencils, and the woman is preparing something to eat.

"Had to do something at uni," he says, walking up to the fridge and taking out the leftovers of a salad he made for himself the previous day.

"We agreed that you'll give me a notice if you know you'll be late."

Jihoon sighs. He's an adult, he should have freedom to do anything. Not in this house though. He wants to say that, also wants to say that fifteen minutes is not that much, but he doesn't.

"I'll remember."

He goes back to his room to eat and watch some youtube videos. After that, he takes out the books to study.

He completely forgets about the leaflet in his pocket.

  


A loud bang wakes Jihoon up one night. It sounds like it was far away in their house, but still makes sleepy boy concerned. Did someone or something fall? He's too sleepy to check it out, so he just turns around in his bed and closes his eyes again.

Rapid knocking on his door make him open them again. He reluctantly stands up to open it. In the darkness, which is nothing to his eyes, he sees Minghao, looking scared.

"Can I- can I hide here?" His eyes dart to the left, like he was afraid someone would come from there. Jihoon lets him in, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"What happened?" he asks, turning the light on.

"I didn't behave," the hybrid says quietly. Jihoon's brows furrow as he makes Minghao sit on his bed. The boy's fluffy ears lay flatly on his head.

"Did someone hit you?"

Minghao looks down and nods. Jihoon grits his teeth. So that loud noise was actually his friend's body dropping on the ground. Great.

"Who and where?"

"My lady," Minghao admits quietly. _My father's wife_ , Jihoon thinks. "She just hit me on the back of my head. And pushed me. Nothing much."

Nothing much? The older boy snorts.

"How bad is it? Do i need to go for something to treat you?"

The bunny hybrid shakes his head, but Jihoon puts his hands on his shoulders and makes him look him in the eye.

"Minghao, I'm serious. You know I'm the only one who can help you out here."

The boy chews on his lower lip before finally saying, "Something for bruises would be good."

Jihoon makes a quick run to the bathroom for an ointment and hopes no one would see him. Fortunately, he comes back safe and locks the door in his room behind him.

"Where?"

"My back, I landed on the wall," Minghao explains. "And, uh, knees. I fell on them later."

Jihoon nods.

"Turn around."

Minhao obeys, and Jihoon lifts his sweater to uncover his back. He puts the ointment carefully at the reddened skin on his shoulder blades. The fabric of the sweater is soft and screams _expensive_ all over. Of course, who would’ve let their precious pet wear bad clothes?

“Now pants.”

Minghao takes them off, and Jihoon takes care of his knees too, kneeling in front of him. When he glances up, the hybrid looks really small and vulnerable (even if he’s much taller than Jihoon himself and could kick his butt).

“Okay, that’s it,” Jihoon says as he finishes. “Better go sleep at the hybrid’s room tonight,” he advices him as he stands up. But Minghao just glances at him with a painful expression.

“Could I stay with you, Jihoon-ssi?”

The older boy just nods. He sees that the hybrid needs someone to comfort him.

“Of course.”

They go to Jihoon’s bed together, Minghao curling up to the smaller. Jihoon pets his soft hair and behind the brown ears to calm him down. They fall asleep like this, with Jihoon last thought being, _would they treat me the same if I was a full hybrid?_

  


In the morning Jihoon wakes up with Minghao on his side. He sighs and gets up carefully, not to wake up the sleeping hybrid. He prepares for uni, and when he puts his pants on, he feels something in his pocket. He takes out the leaflet and unfolds it.

He stares at it for a while, then looks at Minghao, just a kid. Kid that doesn’t deserve being used as a pet by his stepmother, just to dress up in expensive clothes and show off to her other rich friends. _Oh, look at my Chinese hybrid I got as a wedding gift! He doesn’t even know Korean, that’s so sweet!_ No, it wasn’t. That’s why Jihoon taught him himself, and Minghao still pretends to not understand in front of others.

Then Jihoon thinks about himself. A half hybrid. An abomination. Something unnatural.

Something that shouldn’t exist.

He checks the day and time; it turns out it’s just after his classes at uni. He bites his lip as he takes his phone to open the conversation with _call me soon ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_.

_hey soon are you going to that hrm thing today (9:12am)_

_maybe?? do you want to go too? (9:12am)_

Jihoon takes a deep breath as he presses the letters and then the send button.

_yeah (9:14am)_

He feels like he's just put a death sentence on himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon and Soonyoung go to the Hybrid Rights Movement meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so, so sorry ;;; it's two months since the first chapter. i wanted to post it earlier, but idk... couldn't bring myself to write it? this is why i usually don't write chaptered fics, i'm such an inconsistent writer. i hope you won't have to wait that long for the next update, but i can't promise anything, as my midterms are coming.  
> in this chapter we'll know more about this universe, and the situation of hybrids. i hope you'll enjoy it!

“I can’t believe you decided to go,” Soonyoung says as they’re going to the lecture hall together. “Are you finally in your teenage rebel days?” He’s mocking Jihoon. The smaller boy just sends him a death glare.

He feels like he could throw up anytime, his stomach not giving him a moment free of pain from the moment he send the message to his friend. He really, really shouldn’t be doing this. The fact that he’s already an adult has nothing to do with making decisions in his home. But somehow, that felt like a right thing to do.

Maybe they’ll kill him when they’ll hear about this. That’s not a bad option actually.

“Hope it’ll be worth the stress,” he says finally.

  


Time flies when you’re enjoying your activities and is painfully slow when you’re waiting for something nice to happen. In Jihoon’s case, it’s neither; it’s slow, but not slow enough to make that meeting never come, and fast, but not fast enough to just get over with it.

He texts his father to say he’ll be late today. He doesn’t get a reply, but he didn’t even expect one.

His stomach twists and turns, making him sick and thinking that was a stupid idea. That he should have just go home after the classes and forget about it.

But then Minghao’s face appears in this mind, the bruises on his body, the fake smile when he’s pretending he doesn’t understand a thing anyone says in Korean, and he feels like he can’t _not_ go there.

It’s too much, and he barely focuses on the lecture because of his thinking.

When it’s finally over, Soonyoung grips his elbow and tugs beside him with an excited smile, talking something about what he is expecting and wondering if it will be like this.

Jihoon sighs, nodding when his friend is asking him about something, and hopes no one will know about him going there.

  


The hall where meeting will be held is quite big, but already full with people, their talking creating a loud buzz in the air. Jihoon wants to stand somewhere at the back, but Soonyoung spots two unoccupied seats and makes him go there, awkwardly saying “excuse me” so they could squeeze through there. Jihoon checks his phone – fifteen minutes left.

“Whoa, never been to an event like this,” Soonyoung says, looking around, his eyes shining. “It’s so cool. And for a good cause, right? So even better.” He blabbers about the same thing some more, then finally shuts up, what Jihoon is really thankful for. He looks around a little himself, before hearing a voice from his left.

“Uhm, excuse me, are you...” He asks with a frown on his face, and Jihoon gulps. Is this it? Someone recognizing him as the grandson of the Lee Group owner? But no one knows that he is. Not much people are aware that there’s another grandson beside little Hwan. He’s a bastard son, he didn’t make it to their official family tree. So how…

The boy looks at him some more and shakes his head.

“Sorry, I think I thought you’re someone else.”

_Oh._

He smiles a bit, not knowing what to say. He’s getting quite paranoid these days.

He looks for the last time at the boy, noticing he’s sitting there in a jacket, with a hood on his head, even if it’s quite warm in the hall. Well, maybe he just has to keep his bad boy appearance, Jihoon thinks. He’s giving that kind of vibe actually. Jihoon bows a bit and turns to look at the stage.

A few seconds later the lights dim, and the only ones that are left are at the front. The talking calms down, everyone waiting for someone to appear at the stage.

Finally, after a minute of impatience, a man walked out from the backstage. He was met with an applause as he bowed, and even from far away Jihoon could see a smile on his face.

“Hello and welcome,” the man said, and the audience gave him polite ovation. “This is our biggest meeting so far, and we couldn’t be more grateful for everyone who decided to come and help our cause. We know some of you are already our supporters, but to those who are here for the first time, we want to tell you what we do and how you can help us.” As he finished his introduction, he went a bit on the side and the lights on the scene were also turned off, leaving the screen at the back of the scene clearly visible. A powerpoint appeared.

“As we all know, better or worse, the first scientists to create hybrids got criticized a lot,” the man continues, as he shows the picture of five men and three women, a small child standing in front of them. The child is three years old, and has two kitten ears on the top of her head, as well as a tail wrapped around one of her legs. “But not long later, the public warmed to the idea of having loyal friends, something more than just pets. People wanted to look at the cute children with animal traits, wanted to _own_ them. The countries one by one began legalizing this, and South Korea was one of the first.” He changes the slide to show a few pictures of the building Jihoon knows a little bit too well. “The first official, and currently the biggest hybrid making laboratory, Hanguk Hybrid Manufacture, was founded forty seven years ago, and it’s affiliated with the Lee Group.” The boy feels Soonyoung’s stare on him, but doesn’t turn to his friend. “It produces about one hundred hybrids a year. As you probably know, the children are in good hands, the care is taken of them, until someone decides to buy them. They live comfortably in the Manufacture. But what most people don’t know is that not every hybrid is perfect.” Now the screen shows pictures that get the audience completely silent.

In the first picture is a girl, maybe eight year old. She was meant to be a cat hybrid; but she doesn’t have only cat ears and a tail; her body is all covered with ginger fur. In the second, there is a bird hybrid. But the boy’s wings are too small for him, making him look like some caricature. In the third picture are two teenagers, their faces covered with acne, and would pass as normal fourteen-year olds if not for the big round ears and hairless rat-like tails.

“This is the side of the hybrid industry no one should see in their opinion. Hybrids are created to be cute and adorable; their genes are picked carefully, to have big eyes, soft and flawless skin, perfect face structure. Their personalities are created, not only with genetics but also by teachers and nannys, to be quiet, submissive, docile. They are taught to be obedient. Hybrids that don’t fit into the beauty canons, or their personalities are too difficult, are considered failures. Sometimes the laboratories keep them to experiment on them. But as they can’t kill them, they sell those hybrids to traffickers. The black market is full of illegal trade of hybrids. The prices are lower than regular, which makes those hybrids affordable for more people. For us, Hybrid Rights Movement, getting rid of this trafficking is one of the top priorities.

“The other problem is what people don’t see, because it’s always kept behind closed doors; the hybrid abuse.” The screen shows a graph. “As we can see, the most of the hybrid owners are what we consider rich people. Company owners, actors, singers. Whoever has spare 500 million won can buy a hybrid. The hybrids, these _people_ ,” he emphasizes, “in most of the cases become toys. They’re a symbol of luxury, but they aren’t treated like luxurious items. Physical ans mental abuse are common. And, as the hybrids are infertile, they are often used sexually.” Jihoon’s breath hitches. He doesn’t want to hear more about it, but he can’t close his ears like his eyes. “They are molested and raped,” the man finishes, and Jihoon feels like throwing up.

He knows all of this too well from his _family_.

“We need to bring awarness to this case. Hybrids, although they have cute animal features and can’t say no to their masters, are humans just like we are.” He gestures to the audience. “And in most of the countries where breeding hybrids is legal, animal abuse is more of a problem to the people than hybrid abuse. A man who kicked or starved his dog can be punished, but a man who beat up his hybrid can’t.

“This brings us to the other problem, which also mixes the two I talked about already, and it’s runaway hybrids. The hybrids run away from their abusive homes, or from the traffickers. If these hybrids are caught, they are returned to their rightful owners. If they don’t want them again, they are put down, just like stray dogs. Fortunately, the government started cooperating with us. Thanks to that, we have opened already five shelters for hybrids in South Korea.” There are pictures of them all on the screen. “Police brings runaway hybrids to us. We try to educate those hybrids, as most of them don’t even know how to read, and make their life as normal as it can be.” The scene is lit up again and the man comes to front. “Some of our volunteers will now talk about their work at the Seoul shelter.”

There are two girls and one boy coming on the stage, and even from that far, Jihoon wouldn’t mistake him with anyone else thanks to his tall posture.

The boy who bumped into him. Tall, handsome boy who bumped into him and made him come here.

Huh.

They introduce themselves, and Jihoon wants to punch himself for thinking that Kim Mingyu is a pretty name, fitting the boy. _Stop it_ , he thinks, _you see a cute boy once and this is what happens. Seriously, stop it._ Then they talk about their work with hybrids at the shelter, trying to encourage more people to become volunteers like them. There are also some pictures of the shelter appearing on the screen behind them.

When they finish, the man comes up on the stage again. He starts talking about something Jihoon knows well; how hybrids don’t have any rights. You can’t talk formally to them, even if they’re older than you. They can’t go to school. They can’t work. They’re completely dependent on their owners. And since they aren’t born naturally, they aren’t considered worthy of any rights. He actually stops listening at this point, already fed up with all of his family telling him how worthless he is because he’s _half-hybrid_ , and the only good thing about him are his father’s genes.

Finally, the man wraps his talk up.

“Our priority for now is protecting hybrids, because this is what we can do for now. But there are more things to do as you can see – like giving them proper, full rights. Let’s work together to achieve this goal in the future.”

People clap for him, and he finishes with telling how to become a volunteer in the shelter and how to donate for the organization.

As the meeting ends, people are getting up and leaving. Soonyoung, however, isn’t in a hurry.

“Whoa,” he says as he looks at Jihoon, and his eyes are actually sparkling. “That was amazing, right? I got to know so, so many things!” He says excitedly. “I want to become a volunteer in this shelter! Will you come with me?”

Jihoon smiles at him – he likes to see his friend act like a hyperactive kid – but he shakes his head. He notices that the boy on his left is sitting there, so he has to be careful with his words.

“I don’t think that would be wise… When you consider my family.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. But you managed to go here, right?”

“Yeah, but...” Jihoon shrugs. “I don’t know. They may kill me the moment I come home.”

Soonyoung rolls his eyes.

“Jihoon, you know they wouldn’t...”

The boys wants to say that _yes_ , they would in fact gladly kill him, but it’s better not to tell his friend about that. He doesn’t know who _exactly_ Jihoon is. It wouldn’t be wise to tell him, especially now.

They both finally get up, and in this exact moment, when Jihoon looks up, he’s met with the sight of someone’s shoulders. Tilting his head upwards, he sees Kim Mingyu’s face.

What is this boy doing here? _Right_ here? In front of him? Did he notice him from the scene? That can’t be. But why-

“Oh, hi Mingyu,” the boy who was sitting next to him says in a deep voice. When Jihoon glances at him, he still has hood of his jacket on his head. “You did well out there.”

“Yeah, thanks Wonwoo,” Mingyu says, but not looking at that boy.

He’s looking at Jihoon.

The smaller boy feels his ears are getting warm and he hopes that no one will notice. He turns to Soonyoung and nudges him. His friend was looking curiously between him and the tall boy.

“Let’s go,” he murmurs to him and starts walking, but suddenly a hand on his shoulder stops him.

“Wait!” Mingyu says and he turns around. “I- I don’t know if you remember, but we actually met a few days ago. I bumped into you. I didn’t have an opportunity to apologize properly. So, uh, sorry.” He bows. Jihoon doesn’t know what to do, so he just bows his head slightly. He wants to go away already, the situation getting more and more awkward, as the boy called Wonwoo looks at them with amusement on his face.

“Uh. Goodby-”

“Wait!” Mingyu calls for him once again. “Can I know your name?”

“Lee Jihoon.”

The tall boy smiles, and he looks very cute like that.

“I’m Kim Mingyu. Nice to meet you.”

Jihoon smiles awkwardly at him before rushing Soonyoung out of the hall, this time not looking back. He takes a deep breath when they’re outside the building. Soonyoung snickers.

“What?”

“Did I see correctly?”

“What did you see.”

The boy smiles teasingly at him.

“You’ve got a crush.”

“No, I don’t. I just met him very briefly today and… then.”

That doesn’t convince Soonyoung.

“Your ears are red. You’ve got a crush!”

Jihoon glares up at him, hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“And you’ll have an accident if you’ll keep saying this.”

Soonyoung doesn’t say it again then, but the smirk doesn’t leave his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon is curious. Soonyoung wants to play a matchmaker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> am i pretending to be doctor frankenstein since i'm trying to bring this dead fic back alive? probably. the last update was on 170107 so....... anyway, i have a lot to do this year but i'll try update more than once (ha, ha). maybe with shorter chapters? keep your fingers crossed for me.  
> (still not a lot of jigyu in this chapter, but it will change in the next one.)

When Jihoon comes home, there isn’t an angry father waiting for him. There isn’t his grandfather, disgusted and ready to literally kill him.

No one knows where he’s been.

And for the first time, Jihoon is glad no one cares about him.

While washing his hands, he looks at himself in the mirror. He should dye his hair again soon, he thinks, because the roots are starting to show. It wouldn’t be anything weird, if not for his unusual natural hair color.

As the hybrids are created by heavy DNA manipulation, by adding animal genes to human’s, there are other changes the scientists make, mostly aesthetic, to make hybrids as cute and pretty as possible. Some of this changes passed to Jihoon from his mother – soft looking features, pale skin, white hair.

His mother was a cat hybrid. _Pretty little kitten,_ as he once heard from his grandfather, but these words didn’t sound good coming from his mouth. (Nothing really does.) What made her special, was the soft white fur of her ears and tail, and hair of matching color. Maybe that was why his grandfather decided to add her into his collection. And even if Jihoon collected the most of his father genes, so that he can pass as a normal human, the hair is one of the few things he got from his mom.

It was uncomfortable. He didn’t go to regular primary school, taking private lessons at home, just because of it. That didn’t look normal. That would be too hard to explain. When he was 13, he bought a black hair dye and dyed his hair, to convince his grandfather to let him go to the normal school; it actually worked. In high school he started going for lighter colors, and finally got to blonde. Blonde was convenient; the roots weren’t that visible. But since a few months ago, he’s dyeing it pastel pink. It was kind of a dare from Soonyoung, and he was too proud to not do it, even if he thought he’ll look hideous. But he didn’t; he actually started liking it.

_Maybe it’s time for some change_ , he thinks as he brushes his hair with his fingers. He’ll have to think about it.

The boy exits the bathroom and goes to look for Minghao, to tell him about the meeting, but there’s no trace of the hybrid, and he managed to get to know from other hybrids that his step mother took him to some meeting with her friends again.

The other hybrids don’t quite like Jihoon. He doesn’t know why; maybe they envy him, having more freedom than them. He smiles sourly. _As if_.

Then he waits. Even if no one came to scold him right away, they may somehow get to know about his whereabouts later, and his punishment may come any moment. But the night comes, and still nothing happens. He can’t fall asleep, nervous and stressed out, but when he finally does, he wakes up safely. And the entire Saturday goes on smoothly. He stays in his room for a bit, doing some readings for the next week’s classes, orders pizza for lunch and watches a few episodes of _House of cards_. When he accidentally meets the nanny on the wait to the toilet, she only looks at him with hatred just like any other day.

So when Soonyoung texts him, asking if he’s gonna go with him to the shelter, he feels a little brave and tells him he’ll think about it. Only a little, but still he gained some courage out of that situation. Maybe it won’t be that bad if he goes once? Only to see how it looks? He can’t say the presentation didn’t make him even a bit curious.

He’s still concerned, as Minghao hasn’t come back yet. Jihoon doesn’t know if his father’s wife hasn’t come back either, or if she came alone. His room is at the other side of their mansion, near the hybrid rooms, and his father’s part of the house is kind of separated. But she wouldn’t do anything bad to Minghao, right? Nothing worse than what happens normally, at least…

Jihoon finishes his cereal (who said cereal is only for breakfast? it is the _best_ night snack and Jihoon is willing to fight anyone who disagrees) and goes to the kitchen to wash the bowl, when he suddenly sees a very tired-looking Minghao being pestered by other hybrids. He tries to make eye-contact with him, but he doesn’t succeed. Sighing, he resumes walking to the kitchen and on his way back he finally manages to lock eyes with the hybrid. He points in the direction of his room, and Minghao nods.

About half an hour passes before there’s a light knocking on the wooden door and it opens a little to show the hybrid. Jihoon’s sitting by his desk, some assignment open, but he’s scrolling through his phone instead of doing anything. He smiles at Minghao and locks the phone.

“Where have you been this time?”

The hybrid shrugs. “A very fancy hotel,” he says before closing the door after himself. “Met other rich ladies. And hybrids.”

Jihoon nods slowly.

“What about the others here?”

He shakes his head softly.

“Just jealous.”

Right, what else. Contrary to what most people think, when people have more hybrids, they tend to be competitive, trying to win the owner for themselves. They rarely like sharing, and it’s their main weakness. No one can be perfect, right?

“How about you?” Minghao asks. “What have you been up to?”

Jihoon swings left and right on his chair, thinking about how should he word it. Should he tell Minghao all about it? Maybe. He knows the hybrid wouldn’t tell anyone. But still… Is it wise?

He decides on something else instead.

“I heard there are hybrid shelters for hybrids that were… abandoned… and stuff. Do you know about it?”

Minghao shakes his head, his soft hair bouncing a little in the process.

“No, every hybrid finds home,” he says simply. Jihoon bites his lip and thinks a little more.

“How was it, Minghao? At the laboratory?” he asks, softer and quieter this time. The hybrid tilts his head a little to the side, visibly thinking hard.

“I don’t remember it well,” he says after a while. “Only some bits.” He shakes his head again. “I remember the adoption centre better, I got transferred there when I was three I think.”

Jihoon nods. This is the answer he expected, but it still left him a little bit disappointed. He wouldn’t ever say that out loud.

“You’re probably tired, go take a rest,” he says finally, not wanting to dig more or tell anything that happened to him the day before.

Minghao hesitates.

“Can I… do it here, Jihoon-ssi? I’m not sure if the others...”

“Of course.”

Minghao smiles with relief, and Jihoon starts wondering when was the last time he saw Minghao smile.

“Thank you.”

  


  


“So, will you go with me to the shelter?” Soonyoung asks on monday in the school cafeteria. Jihoon sighs.

“You know it’s not easy to make this decision, right?”

His friend rolls his eyes.

“You already did a really big step by going to that meeting with me, you know? You shouldn’t be so scared now,” he says, pointing at him with his chopsticks. “Besides, you will probably meet your crush there.”

Jihoons sends him an annoyed look.

“I don’t have a crush.”

“Yeah, right.”

“He’s just handsome, okay? But I don’t know him so. Definitely not a crush.”

Soonyoung opens his mouth to reply, but the smile quickly appears on his face and his expression suddenly looks very pleased.

“What?” Jihoon asks suspiciously, but Soonyoung just gets up and goes somewhere. Jihoon turns around on his chair to look where did his friend go and-

There he is, tapping the tall, handsome Kim Mingyu, who’s sitting by the nearby table, on his shoulder.

Oh no.

“Hey, you’re Kim Mingyu, right? You were talking about the volunteer work at the hybrid shelter on friday,” he says with a smile. The other boy nods. “Me and my friend,” Soonyoung points at Jihoon, which makes Kim Mingyu look at him briefly and smile in recognition when he wants to just die, “were wondering what time would be good to volunteer.”

“Oh, you want to help? That’s great! Well, volunteers usually come on weekends, so it would be cool if you could come on weekdays.”

Soonyoung nods in contemplation.

“And when do you go there?”

_I will kill him_ , Jihoon thinks, _I will seriously kill him_.

“Almost everyday,” Kim Mingyu says with a small laugh. “Tomorrow I don’t have classes so I’ll be there all day.”

“Oh, great! We only have some in the morning so we’ll meet you there! Thanks, see you!” Soonyoung goes back with a small wave.

“I hate you,” Jihoon says as soon as his friend takes his place in front of him. “You know we have one afternoon class, right? Do you just want to skip it for this stupid thing?” Soonyoung only smiles sweetly and ignore his words.

“Wear something nice tomorrow, we need to make him fall for you too.”

Jihoon sighs.

There’s no way to stop Kwon Soonyoung now.


End file.
